Snowmageddon!

Given this RIDICULOUS weather, what else to do but play in the snow? Apparently we have the good fortune of being here for the official snowiest winter on record in DC (going back through the 1800s!). We are definitely over it -- over shoveling, over being cooped up inside, over freezing, and (if you can believe it) over missing work!! The federal government has been closed all week, and though my firm is not nearly as conscientious, due to weather/and safety consideration related to commuting as well as our nanny's inability to get here, except for Tuesday, we have been home all week too. Unclear what tomorrow will hold, but I'm not optimistic given that our street is still not cleared and the roads are treacherous, and it sounds like the metro will be running about once an hour, and only below ground stations are open. In any event, Isaac is still in great spirits and loving the snow - Bill and I took turns working and watching Isaac today, and these are the pictures from one of the breaks in the total white-out where we ventured out to play. Enjoy!

From Sick Days to Snow Day(s)!!

So it's a good thing we are already pregnant with # 2 (by the way, we are pregnant with number 2), because after all Isaac has put us through the past few weeks, we may have considered sticking with one child ;) It seems that during the rotovirus/dehydration hospital stay, Isaac picked up a respiratory infection which due to his weakened immune system, developed into pneumonia. We had a VERY rough weekend with high temperatures, horrible coughing/wheezing, and an inconsolable baby who was also coincidentally cutting two molars. On Sunday night we were worried he seemed to be struggling to breath, so, in a desperate attempt to avoid another ER visit, we called this (amazing) service called Housecalls on the Hill and a pediatric nurse practitioner came to the house and took Isaac's oxygen levels and determined that they were (very) low. She told us if she couldn't get his levels up with the nebulizer, we were going back to Children's. We all stared intently at the pulse-ox machine as she gave him two nebulizer treatments, and thankfully he got over the threshold to 94%. She told us we had to wake him every 4 hours to check his breathing and give him another treatment and go straight to the pediatrician in the morning. Thankfully we got through the night without an ER visit, and went to Dr. McKnight first thing in the morning for more breathing treatments and a chest x-ray (lots of fun to make a sick baby stand still for an x-ray when his mom has to leave the room because she's pregnant). In any event, the chest x-ray confirmed pneumonia on both sides, and we left with our very own nebulizer, and prescriptions for antibiotics and prednisone. Thankfully a day or two on the medications and breathing treatments every four hours (thank goodness for Baby Signing Time videos - the only way to get him to sit still with that mask on) and the fever broke and Isaac was on the mend. We are hoping this is it for the little-man's illnesses, because we are ALL going stir-crazy in the house, and want our healthy, happy child back!

So after spending two weekends in the house due to illness, we were thrilled to hear that a blizzard was heading to DC in time for the following weekend. Bill was supposed to leave Saturday morning for St. Louis for his brother's engagement party, but the airports closed on Friday afternoon when the snow started. We were very sad he had to miss the party, but it would have been rough for me to be stuck in the house with the baby and no one to shovel us out of the 20+ inches of snow!! We made the best of it though, and since he had been fever-free for 5 days, decided Isaac could come out to play in the white stuff for a little while. He absolutely couldn't get enough of it, running down the street, helping shovel, chasing the dogs, and making poor Bill run full-speed up and down the block dozens of times pulling him on the very cool sled he made for Isaac out of aluminum flashing, duct tape and an audio/video patch cable (MacGyver-style!!). As of 7pm, still no plows in sight, and very few cars on the road, so it looks like we'll get to do a lot of sledding tomorrow too!!
These pictures are at 9am:

After his nap, we went back out to test out the sled - nearly another foot of snow had fallen!

Here's a video of Isaac loving the sled on one of many trips up the street...